Bunions are a progressive disorder typically beginning with a leaning of the great toe, which may gradually change the angle of the bones and produce a characteristic bump on the medial side of the metatarsal near the joint of the metatarsal with the proximal phalanx. Specifically, the bunion is the prominence made of bone and at times an inflamed bursa. Hallux valgus is the condition in which the great toe deviates from the normal position toward the direction of the second toe.
Bunion correction or repair is a common surgery with over 100,000 surgeries performed annually in the US. Many surgical procedures for bunion repair are invasive and painful, requiring an incision of several inches and a long period of convalescence, of up to 10-12 weeks. Minimally invasive surgery has been performed in orthopedics for decades. However, creating the bone cuts has been performed with burrs and drill bits inserted blindly through small incisions. This method of surgery lends itself to potential adjacent soft tissue damage and unrepeatable results from patient to patient. The disclosure contained herein seeks to remedy this problem by providing an instrumented technique and guides to provide repeatability and limit the damage to tissue along with a simple implant insertion technique.
Disclosed herein is an implant and method for bunion repair which can be performed as a minimally invasive procedure, thus reducing discomfort, scarring and recovery time in comparison with more invasive bunion correction procedures.